It was a cold afternoon one autumn day that Shai'tan set out from his house in the city of Fealon. He was traveling north towards the Crossroad city, a city that lay where the main road split in two. One way to the harbour city, from where you could travel to Angelion, and the other to Dithal. It was there he was going to meet ShadowNinja and JKL;!!!!!. They were going to the city of Dithal, which lay not too far east of the Crossroads. It was one of the larger cities in the land and a great place for merchants. The river Ila runs straight through the city and you had to go through the city to reach Sachil, the city on the far most north-eastern point of the land. It was also connected to a harbour-city to the south-east that traded with the Islands of Yuilu, a place with rare goods and strange people, or so the rumours say. Shai'tan had set out by order of his father, who was a metalsmith in town, it had been a good season for the family and he had earned some extra gold, so he was sent out to Dithal to order fireworks, buy ale and meat, and to meet the son of a good friend of his father, Richard. They were going to have a great party to celebrate a good year.

Shai had set out with great haste. It was rare that he had a chance to leave the city, and he had never been as far as Dithal. Before he left his father had given him a sword, was engraved with a white tiger, was very light and sharp and it was something very precious to his father. He would never let anyone touch it, it had been a gift. From whom Shai didn't know, but he knew it must have been someone important, it was of very high standard and few swords were engraved these days. He had also been told to be very careful, rumours had it that bands of bandits were roaming the farms and areas around the Main Road looking for easy prey, he were to avoid them at any cost and not to use or show his sword if he could manage it.

So it was that Shai rode all the way to the Crossroads. It took many days and he met few people, not many dared to walk outside now. Winter was closing in and it had started to snow. He had not seen any bandits on the way, but he had seen what they would do to travelers. It had been an early morning, the sun was a little above the tree tops when he saw the bandwagon on the road ahead. It had been tipped over to one side and dark figures lay around it, some of them rather small. Shai looked away, frightened of what he might see there. He hurried on before the stench of death could reach him. There was no sleep to be found that night.

At long last he saw the walls of the Crossroads, marvelously high walls with guards roaming them. It was a large city, perhaps a bit smaller than Fealon, but still large enough to hold many thousands. The one thing that made it different from Fealon was all the noise, there were merchants everywhere, either heading for Dithal or coming from there. He rode into town and looked around for an Inn called The Brave Heart, it was where he had arranged to meet ShadowNinja and JKL;!!!!!. He asked around a few times as he rode through the town, looking at all the great buildings, he even saw a palace or two, before he finally reached his destination. The barman was a big, round man that had a large smile and a couple of sharp eyes. He looked at Shai with a smile that reached both eyes, "A room for the night? Perhaps some fine wine and a place before the fireplace? It must be cold for a man that comes from so far south.", he said and examined Shai. "I'll take that offer, Mr..? And I would also know if you happen to know some friends of mine, they are called ShadowNinja and JKL;!!!!!. I believe they stay at this Inn...", Shai said and looked around the room.
The room was about halfway filled with people who sat and enjoyed their drinks, some over a game of dices or cards, others just relaxing. There was one thing that caught his eye though, in the corner, almost hidden, was a young man sitting, watching him intently. "Mr. Hellerman, Sir, and I indeed have a guest by the name of ShadowNinja, but none of the name JKL;!!!!! I'm afraid. Infact, ShadowNinja is sitting in the corner there.", Mr. Hellerman informed him. Shai payed him for the room and a glass of wine and went over to ShadowNinja. "ShadowNinja? I'm Shai'tan, I was supposed to meet you and JKL;!!!!! here...?", Shai said and held out a hand for him, Shadow accepted it, "Well met, have a seat. I have yet to see JKL;!!!! I'm afraid, he was supposed to be here 3 days ago. Something might have happened to him..."

Shai and Shadow sat there for several hours, discussing what to do, whether to wait for JKL;!!!!! or leave without him. In the end they decided to wait one week for him, if he didn't show up by then they would leave him.

A week passed without much happening. Shai'tan took the time to explore the city and get to know ShadowNinja better. It turned out Shadow was only a bit older than Shai was, he had been a part of a vigilante group his father had led earlier back in Dithal. This meant that he knew the city and it's passages well and also how to handle a sword. They talked and learned things from each other, where to hide weapons, how to move quietly, all the secret passages and escape routes in their own city and different ways to handle their blades. Shadow was impressed when he first saw the sword Shai had, said he had never seen anything like it.

On the fourth day Shadow decided to join Shai in exploring the city. They passed through the streets and went towards the poorer districts in the city. Here the atmosphere was totally different from market districts. People had ragged clothes and they all looked warily at strangers, this was where the thieves and murderers kept hidden, the dark side of the city. It was rumoured to be a very dangerous place. Shai drew his cape closer and tugged his hood forward. There was no saying what could happen if they lingered too long here. He was glad that his sword was hidden, he was sure some of these people would jump them at any signs of money or jewelery. "To know a city you must know all it's sides. Even the darkest ones...", Shadow said, quietly so that only Shai could hear it. "True as that may be, I still don't like this... They remind me of animals, hunger in their eyes, only waiting for the pray to be off guard, ready to jump us as soon as we show any sign of weakness.", Shai answered. He looked up, the sky was bright and the sun had not yet reached it's peak. The last thing they wanted was to venture here at night. "You may not like it, but you know as well as I that the unseen eyes hold the best information. Come and let us see if we can find any Dealers."

Shadow hurried down the streets and took a turn into a back alley. Shai quickly followed. Getting information from the Dealers is not easy, they might be the ones that hold the best and most precise information, but they are a dangerous and expensive bunch. As their name suggest they deal with things, mostly costly information, but there are also rumours about assassinations, smuggling and other dark dealings. Many of the beggars in the city answer to the Dealers, they are their eyes, and in return they get protection from them. You can't kick a Dealer marked beggar without having to pay for it. Even though they are expensive and have dark rumours surrounding them, their information is always correct and they can find anyone if you pay the price.

Shadow and Shai passed through several alleyways before Shadow finally stopped by a beggar. "Lead us to a Dealer.", Shadow said and tossed a silver coin to the beggar. The beggar stood up and started to walk without a word. Shai noticed that the beggar had a scale tattooed on his left arm, right above his hand. That was the sign of the Dealers.

They were lead through a back door on a rundown house. Inside were three people, all of them with a scale tattooed somewhere. One of these men sat behind a desk full of paper, the other two looked like they were bodyguards. "These gentlemen would like to speak with you, sire.", it was the first time Shai heard the beggar speak, it was a dark, dry voice. "No hoods allowed here. What do you want? If it's information, you've come to the right place. If you got the money that is...", said the man behind the desk. Shadow and Shai dropped their hoods. "We're looking for a friend of us.", they had already agreed that Shadow should be the one talking. He gave the description of JKL;!!!!! and explained how he should have been here four days ago. The man's eyes and ears sharpened at the sound of JKL;!!!!!'s name, it was gone in the blink of an eye, and both Shadow and Shai pretended not to notice.

"I see. I am certain that our men can find this man, no matter where he is hiding. But let's discuss price. Finding one person, would you like us to search the entire city? Perhaps the farms and small villages close by? Or would you maybe like us to search the entire continent? It's at a higher fee of course...", the man smiled and leaned forward. "Just the city will do for now, I will be back tomorrow and I expect results. Money is not the problem.", the man looked a little taken back at this demand, "The entire city by tomorrow? You do drive a hard bargain young boy. That will not be cheap, but in return I will promise you that if he's within these city walls, he will be found by tomorrow.", the man started to scribble down on some paper, "Let's see, search for one man by tomorrow. That will be 22 gold and 7 silver coins.", said the man and smiled at Shadow. He handed the money over and they said their goodbyes. Once outside Shadow spoke silently, "That man knows more than he's letting on to. He may already know the location of our friend..."

ShadowNinja and Shai'tan walked down the alleyway they had arrived from. Shai had an ominous feeling, if they indeed did know the location of JKL;!!!!!, why didn't they tell them right away? Something was definitely off, but neither Shadow or Shai could figure out how or why JKL;!!!!! would have gotten on the bad side of the Dealers. Maybe someone else was looking for him. That didn't make much sense either, why would anyone be looking for a farmer's son?
Truth be told, they didn't know much about JKL;!!!!!. He had lived in a farm, not too far from the Crossroads with his father and a younger sister. His father, Arthur if Shai remembered correctly, was an old acquaintance of Shai's father. It was said that he was a extremely intelligent man, there was no other chess player like him, Shai's father had said once.

Shadow and Shai walked past the Inn they were staying at and continued walking through the city. Passing through the crowd that was flocking the main streets. There was loud noises wherever they went. The sound of metal hitting metal almost drowned the buzzing city noise and chatter, smithies were making all kinds of tools and weapons. Sellers shouting out their offer of the day, fresh food or ornaments and rings and the like. One time they even passed a couple of guards on duty, patrolling the streets for signs of trouble. They continued walking along the main streets until they found another Inn, it was called A Lone Strider and had a picture of a man with a walking stick, taking long steps over a hill, like he was some kind of giant or something. They entered the Inn and looked for the barman.
A woman stepped up to them, she was short, stout and looked rather strict. She was wearing an apron with stains all over it and her hair was tied into a knot, Shai came to the conclusion that she had to be the main chef in the Inn. "May I help you? We rooms available, but you will have to wait for Mr. Utter to come back, he's out for some goods you see. We also serve wine and food if you want, you can even join those fellas over there for a game of cards, I've heard there's lots of money to be won there", she said smiling, "Ah yes, could you please show us the back door of this Inn?" Shadow suddenly had a couple of silver coins twisting around his fingers. She looked down at the silver coins, then scanned Shadow and Shai, it seemed almost as she learned their entire life story just by looking at them once.
Shai found her a bit scary. Back home they had a saying that it took more courage to fight an angry woman with a stick than a man with an axe, Shai thought that this could very well be plausible. "This way please." she said and lead way through the kitchen and to a small, square door. Shadow slipped the coins into her pocket as he passed her on the way out. She waved them off and sighed at them. Shadow and Shai bowed and thanked her before they set off again.

Once they had finally reached their Inn again,, they sat down and started planning. Shai ordered some food and some beer. "I'm not sure if we really should have done that. We may have made the Inn a target, innocent people might get hurt because of this!", Shai tried to keep his voice down as much as possible. Even though there were few people in the room he could not risk anyone overhearing them. "Don't worry, I do not think they will hurt anyone to find us, they'll quickly discover that we're not in A Lone Strider, but they won't know where we went after that. Either way, we can use this to our advantage. It gives us some time to move around freely without being followed. We will need to get a hold of the Dealer we met today, he's bound to know something about JKL;!!!!!. I don't think barging in on him will do any good though..." Shadow sighed and started on his food, some kind of stew. Shai looked down at his own food, it was the same stew that Shadow was eating. It looked pretty much like the stew they had back home, though this contained small, yellow pieces. If Shai remembered correctly it was called potato, apparently something that was quite ordinary in the northern parts of the land, and he had to admit that it wasn't too bad. "Do you think that Dealer guy will come to the Inn tomorrow?", Shai asked and took a sip of his beer, it was unlike anything they had home. "Maybe... He might just send some henchmen though... Worst case scenario they will try to kill us in our sleep, and even though we did lead them astray for now, they won't have much trouble finding us again. I say we sleep light tonight, keep your weapons near, and then find this guy tomorrow. And if they do try to kill us in our sleep, let's try to keep at least one of them alive for questioning...", Shadow was already finished with his stew and was leaning back with his beer in his hand. Shai finished his own stew and decided to head up to his room. He put the sword next to the bed and a knife under the pillow. Luckily the door was rather old and creaking, so he could get a warning if anyone tried to enter his room uninvited. Shai let out a yawn and went to bed, thinking about what the next day might bring...